Seeing Junji breathe his last breath, Fujin withdrew his sword and said, "He was tough!"
Hoka and Mieko also withdrew their attacks and nodded. Junji's body fell to the ground. Hoka said, "Yes. For so long, despite getting attacked so much, he never allowed me to hit any of his chakra points!"
Mieko nodded. She was about to say something when her eyes fell on Fujin. She instantly became annoyed and asked, "Why do you keep running away and sneak attacking?"
Fujin shrugged and replied, "It's fun."
Hoka and Mieko's faces immediately became dark.
Renjiro's clone flickered in. He looked at his three students proudly and praised them, "Great work! Though he was a bit exhausted after fighting me, you three managed to kill a full-fledged Jounin!"
All three looked at him. Hoka asked, "Should we reinforce you Sensei?"
Before the clone could answer, they heard from behind, "No need."
Immediately the three turned around to see Renjiro. Renjiro finally managed to kill his opponent. He sealed his body and was coming to help his clone when the trio killed Junji.
Renjiro's clone dispelled himself. Renjiro received all his memories.
He looked at his students and said, "Good work. Did you store their bodies?"
His students all shook their heads. Renjiro said, "Store their bodies and assemble back here within 2 minutes. Fujin, bring Hotaka as well. Also, don't steal their belongings. For missions that particularly state to kill some ninjas, you shouldn't steal their belongings as they may have something that the village needs. Also, their belongings could have traps."
The trio nodded and flickered. They went to their own battlefields and sealed the dead bodies in the scrolls. Fujin flickered towards Hotaka and looked at him. Both he and his dog were wrapped in multiple bandages.
Hotaka looked at Fujin and asked, "Is it over?"
Fujin nodded, "All enemies are dead."
Hotaka was surprised. He thought, 'I just asked for formality! They managed to kill a team of 6 ninjas who we couldn't pin down for days in just 30 minutes!'
While Hotaka was lost in his thoughts, Fujin sealed Doi's body in a scroll. He asked, "Can you move?"
Hotaka got up and replied, "Yes. None of my injuries was serious."
Fujin nodded and said, "Alright. Sensei has asked us to assemble. Follow me."
Within a couple of minutes, everyone was assembled where Renjiro was within a couple of minutes. Renjiro had sealed Junji's body.
Renjiro looked at everyone and said, "Report your status."
Mieko replied, "No injury. Chakra around 15%."
Hoka said, "No injury. Chakra around 25%."
Fujin said, "No injury. Chakra around 40%."
Hotaka wasn't aware of the protocol in Team Renjiro. However, on hearing the three chunins, he understood and said, "Minor injuries. Chakra around 35%."
Renjiro nodded and said, "Get ready. We will be attacking the 2nd team from Kiri as well."
The trio were surprised. Fujin asked, "Sensei, wouldn't it be better to rest and recover our chakra first?"
Both Mieko and Hoka agreed with Fujin but didn't say anything.
Renjiro answered, "Normally yes. But our enemies would run away. And we are in the land of fire, so our reinforcements will be coming soon. Unfortunately, we can't wait for them."
Without explaining the exact details, Renjiro flickered. His students immediately followed him. Hotaka was dumbfounded once again at how suddenly they disappeared! He immediately followed their scents.
Renjiro arrived at the place where the pond that the Kiri ninjas were hiding in was. Fujin, Mieko, and Hoka reached there soon after. Hotaka was the last one to reach. They were standing on the opposite end of the pond.
Mieko asked, "Why are we back here sensei?"
Renjiro smiled and asked, "When multiple parties are hunting you, what do you think is the best place to hide?"
The four fell into thought. Hotaka had a few guesses, but he didn't answer as he assumed that the question was meant for Renjiro's students.
After a minute, Mieko answered, "At a place where no one will expect you to."
Fujin and Hoka gave her a deadpan expressions. Hoka taunted, "Good way to state the obvious."
Renjiro chuckled and said, "Well, she isn't wrong. In this scenario, where they were hunted by one stronger squad which was, in turn, being hunted by multiple other squads, the best place to hide is near the 1st squad that was hunting them."
Hearing that the eyes of all 3 students widened. They immediately activated their sensory skills. However, they didn't sense anyone nearby.
Renjiro continued, "It is ingenious. The ones that are hunting them would never imagine them to be so close. And since this is their hiding spot, it would mean that they are confident about hiding here from others. So they would be hidden from everyone.
Even in the scenario where the hiding spot of the ones who are hunting them gets exposed. The other party would attack them and not think that there is another squad hiding here."
Fujin asked, "So, how did you sense them, sensei?"
Renjiro chuckled and said, "I am very sensitive to earth and water nature. When I used the Rampart of Flowing Soil jutsu, I sensed another underground cave that would be perfect for hiding. And since the patrol teams didn't manage to find them again, it became easy to guess who was hiding there."
Renjiro began making hand signs but Fujin said, "Wait a bit, sensei. I sense a few chakra signatures to our left."
Hoka activated his Byakugan. Renjiro stopped and asked, "How many?"
Fujin answered, "Four chunin leve… Another 3 are coming here as well. All 7 are at chunin level."
Hoka added, "All are from our Patrol teams."
Renjiro waited. Soon 7 chunins reached them. On reaching, one of them said, "We heard a lot of noise coming from this area. So we came to reinforce you."
Renjiro nodded and answered, "One of the Kiri squads has been dealt with. We will now deal with the other. Three of you wait here with us. The remaining four go and hide. Hotaka, go with them."
They nodded. The first patrol team of four dispersed in different directions and hid themselves. So did Hotaka. The remaining 3 waited with Renjiro's team wondering what he was up to.
Renjiro made a few hand signs and slammed his hands on the ground and said softly, "Earth Release : Thousand Needles jutsu."
A half hour ago :
Sakai Chou and her squad suddenly felt tremors inside the underground cave they were hiding in! Unlike Kazuki's squad, this squad was relatively younger. Only Chou was in her thirties. The remaining three members were in their late teens.
Chou looked at her squad members and said, "Looks like Kazuki and others have been discovered by the Konoha shinobis. Don't try to sense them."
Her squad nodded. Mino Masuyo, who was a special Jounin, asked, "Chou-sama, wouldn't it be better if we help those Konoha shinobi? That way, we can eliminate that squad from the Mizukage faction."
Terumi Honzo, a chunin in this 4-man squad, added, "It may even help us create a good relationship with Konoha. With those guys dead and Konoha being friendly, we will be able to return without any obstruction."
However, Chou shook her head. She said, "We don't know if the Konoha team is strong enough to kill them. If they aren't and Kazuki and others end up escaping, then we will be in a tough spot.
That's not even considering that the Konoha shinobis might consider us enemies too and we may end up helping Kazuki escape. We will be in a much tougher spot."
Masuyo asked softly, "But your niece recently fought in the Konoha's chunin exams. I heard she reached finals as well. Can't we say that to at least enter into talks with Konoha?"
Chou answered, "I had thought about this too. But ultimately, Konoha didn't agree to help us. Even if I say that I am afraid Konoha will ask us to surrender and take us as prisoners. They might let us go later due to what you said, but things won't be under our control."
The expressions of everyone grew grim upon hearing Chou. After some time, their last member who was a chunin, Kenkyusha Shunji said, "What if we just take this opportunity to run away?"
Chou replied, "If they were able to find Kazuki's squad who were hiding so well, we will be exposed as soon as we leave this hideout. Don't worry so much. I don't think they will find our spot. So we will try to leave silently after a few days."
Having no choice, they just waited in the hideout. After the first tremor, nothing else was felt in the hideout, so they assumed that the fighting spot moved.
[A/N : Additional chapter on Sunday if the fic stays in top 200]
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